


I have (loved you so long)

by Amatie1



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Getting Together, I still don't know how tags work?, M/M, Pike and Gyro sort of featuuure, Year of Shance 2019, oh wellll, this is just fluff, you all can join me on the fluffy as f train again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 03:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amatie1/pseuds/Amatie1
Summary: Lance has something to tell Shiro, maybe he can use his old character Pike to help him?





	I have (loved you so long)

“And he’ll have a sword!” Cried the young boy, leaping off the settee. Hopping to and fro, as if in an imaginary battle with some great beast, a stick held in his hand; his mighty sword. A cape tugged at his neck, though he ignored it. A Knight wouldn’t be bothered by a little uncomfortable tugging! 

And what was a Knight without his cape?

“Mh-hm!” Said another boy, though he had tied a bandanna around his head; a scarf instead of a cape, and makeshift cat-ears, to complete the ensemble. Only the best for the most famous Ninja Assassin of the land, and cats were the best at sneaking! It would only make sense that the Best Ninja Assassin was part cat, right?

Any objections about an Assassin and a Knight paring up were summarily dashed, A Most Famous Knight would be able to show the Assassin the error of his ways, and pave way for justice, after all. Letting the redemption of the Assassin happen as the Knight graciously allowed the Assassin to partner up with him.

The soft scratching of a pencil filled the air as Lance furiously wrote it all down, their story. Their adventure. They hadn’t named the characters yet - nothing seemed right! - though they were close, still a little thing like that hadn’t killed their creativity. Jumping ahead and imagining their adventures together, how they saved the land, the world, together. 

“And, and,” Shiro said, stick held aloft, posing majestically. Puffing his chest out, trying to make himself seem bigger. He would be tall, Shiro knew. And strong! On a quest to save everyone and everything. “He’ll have armour, the best armour. Nothing can pierce it!”

“A Ninja Assassin won’t need to pierce it,” Lance teased, pausing in writing to childishly doodle Shiro’s description of his character. Armour, like he’d seen on the television, except better. And a huge sword, the biggest. For a final touch, he drew a big smile. A Knight had to have a smile. And Shiro had such a nice smile. “When he can sneak poison into the Knight’s food!”

Shiro flopped down next to Lance, grinning at the doodle of the Knight. He looked so majestic! “But he has to fail,” Shiro said, playfully pushing Lance. “They’re gonna become the best of friends, right?”

Lance smiled. “Uh-huh, the best!”

“He’ll need a backstory,” Shiro muttered, grabbing a stray pencil to sketch in Lance’s character. Cat features and all. A cheeky, teasing grin, just like Lance had. As he thought, he absently wrote in the statistics next to the drawing; age, likes and dislikes, as Lance did the same to Shiro’s character. The name would go at the top, once they thought of one for them. “Something cool!”

“Not as cool as mine will be!” Lance said, mock-taunt. “He’s a Ninja! And an Assassin! He’s already cool - a backstory is just added coolness!”

“Lies,” Shiro said, grinning. “Everyone knows the Knights the coolest, he’s a hero!”

Their story lay forgotten on the floor, as they playfully tussled, and that shifted into acting out their story instead; the Knight Shiro and and his most trusted friend, Ninja Assassin Lance. Saving the world over and over again. 

Only stopping when it was time for Shiro to go home - promises made to finish off the story next time Shiro came over. 

\---

“Hey, I remember that,” Lance almost jerked to his feet, heart beating faster, at the sound of Shiro’s voice. Lance hadn’t even heard him enter, too engrossed in the memories of their childhood. “Pike and Gyro, right?” His lip quirked, the names seeming almost adorably dumb, now. 

“Hey! Those names were, and still, are the pinnacle of cool, I’ll have you know.” Lance grinned, tracing the book absently with the tips of his fingers. Lance almost felt protective of it, there were so many memories in every line; ever word evoked a new one; brought it to the forefront of his mind.

Lance hadn’t even realised he had that many memories locked up in his head, waiting to be unleashed, until he’d sat down to read the book. Well, after he could figure out what it said. Perfect handwriting, it was not. Scrawled and scrunched together, cramped at the edges as younger Lance had tried to fit in a long word with limited space. 

“You’re right, my mistake,” Shiro held his hands up in mock-apology, eyes shining. God, it felt good to see him after so long. School and life conspiring to keep them apart, honestly. Whenever Lance felt certain this was it, they could hang out together, something popped up and they had to cancel.

It sucked.

Lance could only thank whoever created instant messaging, because he didn’t know what he would have done if talking with his friend had been pulled out of his reach, too. Though they were rarely on at the same time, Lance could always count on a reply to his messages waiting for him the next time he checked.

“Can I see…?” Shiro held out his hand, and Lance squeezed the book tightly, and handed it over. Captivated by Shiro’s grin as he turned the pages; drawings upon drawings of the epic of adventures of Pike and Gyro awaited inside. Two sets of handwriting, adding much needed detail to the drawings. 

“We never did finish it.” Shiro said, pinching a piece of paper; one side held a colourful page full of words and pictures, the next blank. They had always said they’d come back to it, but they never had. 

“Nope.” Lance said, sitting crossed legged next to him. It was a little sad, to see it, too. Lance remember walking from room to room, imagining all the adventures Pike and Gyro were going to have, so vivid in his mind.

When had he stopped doing that?

“Guess we’ll never know how Pike and Gyro came together to stop the dastardly,” Lance snorted, unable to keep a straight face. “Moustached villain.”

Shiro didn’t crack a smile like Lance thought he would, instead he seemed almost thoughtful, in a way. Finger tapping against the book as he traced the last scene they’d written; a set up to the greatest battle, the end of the line. “Why don’t we?”

“Huh?” Lance blinked. “Why don’t we what?”

“Finish it,” Shiro said, grinning that heartbreaking grin of his, dammit all. Lance would jump out an aeroplane for that smile. It was so unfair. “Let them rest, come on Lance, they’ve been meaning to finish this mission for years now. We can’t leave them like this!”

Lance meant to say, wait. They didn’t have the time. Lance meant to say, I have something to tell you. Something important. Lance meant to say, please don’t let this ruin our friendship, but I think I love you in a not so platonic way. 

This was his last chance, Lance couldn’t blow it by spending all of this precious time on an old story. 

“Fine, okay, let’s do it.” Lance said, giving in immediately, not even a token protest. Veronica was no doubt feeling smug, all of a sudden, for no reason. She always seemed to know when Lance was at his weakest when it came to Shiro, which was always; so maybe it wasn’t some stupid psychic sibling bullshit. 

But that didn’t mean it couldn’t be, either. 

Enthused, Shiro dug out a spare pencil from his bag, eagerly opening the book to the blank page. Frowning, turning it back over so he could read what they had last written. It was an ending, it had to follow on from where they’d left off. 

Not a particularly difficult feat; it was max on dialogue, low on any details. Though they managed to glean, with a few re-reads, that Pike and Gyro were just about the enter the lair of the Big Bad. 

Time seemed to slow, as they argued over who gets to do what; who struck the final blow, which they decided with dice, and who gets to have the Almost Death Before Miraculous Saving Occurs, also another decision for the dice. 

Really, they just used the dice for any decision they couldn’t agree on.

“And so,” Lance said, grandly. Eagerly scribbling in the last few sentences, any reservations he had about spending his day with their old characters long since forgotten. “Pike, with a tiny help from his trusty sidekick Gyro, saved the day!” Laughter bubbling up as Shiro pouted; trying to grab the book from Lance as Lance did his best to keep it out of Shiro’s hands. 

“And a statue was built in his honour, adoring masses coming far and wide to look upon his handso-” 

Lance shrieked as Shiro tackled them off the bed, gasping from how hard he was laughing. “Shiro, Shiro,” Lance said, as Shiro took the book from his feeble fingers, crowing in victory. “Come on, I was getting to the good part!”

“You had your turn,” Shiro said, smirking when he saw Lance had actually written that into the book. “I think Gyro deserves some of that credit, don’t you?”

“A little bit,” Lance said, innocently. “He was great at boosting morale!”

Other than a scoff, and a roll of his eyes, Shiro concentrated on Gyro’s own accolades. A statue, to join Pikes - what? Might as well go for broke - and his own adoring masses. They’d been waiting a good ten or so years to finish their quest, they might as well get all that glory. 

“There we go,” Shiro said, ignoring Lance’s pouting. “That’s more like it, don’t you think? Sharing the glory, that they both earned.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” Lance made a go at swiping the book back, Shiro keeping it just out of reach with his usual cheating ways; stupid, extra height. 

“Still, any last words, Pike?” Shiro teased, waving the book in Lance’s face. Not even putting up a fight as Lance grabbed it again. “An inspiring speech? Words for your adoring fans to take to heart, live on forever in history?”

“It’s going to be awesome,” Lance muttered. “Just you wait.”

Lance’s eager grin slowly faded, as he looked at the book. Pencil hovering over the page. Seconds ticked by and there was only one thing he could think of, one thing Pike would say, but after this, could he really do it?

Would it be worth losing Shiro, if it made things awkward after? Could he still have this closeness? Lance didn’t know and oh, it terrified him. As did Shiro’s concerned frown, the longer Lance went without doing anything, saying anything. 

Before Shiro could ask him what was wrong with the concerned face of his, Lance touched the paper with the pencil, trying to write legibly with a shaky hand. For all his doubts, the sick feeling welling up, Lance couldn’t let it go unsaid; have regret follow him. 

Lance looked at what he’d written - and read it out. 

“And Pike whispered to Gyro ‘I Love You’,” Lance said, quietly. Not looking away from the page as he slowly wrote it out, almost feeling Shiro’s start; his cheeks burning. But this was it, his last chance. Lance couldn’t let Shiro go without trying. “‘I always have’.” 

The pause felt excruciating, and Lance almost choked with how hard it was to breath, his eyes stinging with the need to cry. Had he ruined their friendship? He had, hadn’t he? Lance was so stupid, he should have been happy with their friendship, but he’d gotten greedy. 

Shiro was leaving soon - at least he would have still had his friendship, if he’d held his tongue even if they could no longer see each other in person as much, anymore. Now he’d have nothing but regrets. 

“Gyro said,” Lance’s breath hitched, almost breaking the pencil in two. Still looking at the journal, their journal, no matter how much he wanted to look at Shiro. Lance couldn’t stand to see rejection. Shiro and his stupidly beautiful face, and stupidly kind eyes. It would break him. “‘I love you, too’.”

Oh.

Lance closed his eyes, suddenly able to breath, almost missing the soft continuation of Shiro’s confession. “‘I always have.” 

“That’s my, I mean Pike’s, line, Shiro,” Lance laughed, rubbing his eyes; gravity no longer an issue, he felt as if he could float into the air. Stars and suns, galaxies, open to him. Lance felt a world of possibilities lay in wait; who knew love could encompass you, let the impossible seem possible? It was wonderful. “Get your own, huh?”

Shiro shifted closer to Lance, his arm warm upon Lance’s back. “Pike was always the charming one, the one with all the words, don’t you remember?” Shiro teased, soft and so warm. “Gyro can’t keep up, give him a break, huh?”

“I guess I-Pike can.” Lance said, finally turning to face Shiro, his lips parted at the love on Shiro’s face. Oh, oh. Words were lost, swallowed up, lifted away in the truth of it all. How could he have ever had doubts? It practically swallowed him whole, rewrote the universe. Shiro loved him, Lance could finally see. 

_Shiro loved him._

An almost helpless giggle burst out of him, as Lance pulled Shiro in, shifting so Lance could rest his forehead against Shiro’s. He could lose himself in Shiro’s eyes, Lance mused, dreamily. A galaxy his to explore. 

His fingers stroking over Lance’s cheekbone, Shiro nuzzled his nose against Lance, his eyes so warm and soft, Lance didn’t know how to handle it. 

“How kind of him.”

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got some March: Year of Shance things done~!  
> Thank you so much for reading! <3
> 
> (For the prompts:  
> Mar 3: Diary  
> Mar 4: Sharing a Secret/Confession)


End file.
